The Sanest Ones Here
by sunsetofdoom
Summary: ... Are the inmates! Jeremy Johnson is a new doctor at the Danville Mental Rehabilitation Center; where he goes on fun and terrifying adventures with the some of the best people he's ever known.  Too bad they're the patients.
1. Rate

Jeremy finds his standard place at the table, tainted by the black energies of the teenagers around him. He sits down anyways. It is his job, after all, no matter how often he doesn't feel like it.

"So, how's everybody's day going?" The tone of his voice is cheerful, trying to counteract the aura of general despair and rage. It worked about as well as offering a belt to a "gangsta"; it was denied with such fervency by such dangerous persons that by all logic the giver should have been running in terror.

"Three." Vanessa's tone is flat, and she is scowling as she stabs at the glop on her plate, wishing it was much more solid so there was more resistance to tear apart.

Ferb holds up four fingers, giving Jeremy a wry smile as he tries to thwack Vanessa's fork away for long enough to steal her juice cup. She smacks him upside the head, leans over, reclaiming hers and taking his to boot, leaving him to pout.

Buford and Baljeet suspiciously absent, he turns to Candace now to ask, but freezes once he sees her; frazzled and wild, her hair flying in numerous directions and her eyes so wide it's scary, she somehow still manages to be beautiful, but a terrible, pitiful beauty it is. She looks up at him, whispering in a voice so soft he can't even hear, "Two."

Reluctant to take his eyes off Candace in her state, he forces himself around to the two remaining. "Isabella?"

She clutches her precious porcelain doll ever tighter, leaning back from him, shaking her head so hard her black hair whips around in spidery strands.

Jeremy decides on one last try at a sunny demeanor before he gives in and lets the black mood overtake him. "C'mon, Phineas, how's the sunshine kid today?"

The young boy looks up with his eyes half-lidded and nauseatingly empty, and Jeremy remembers with a sickening drop in his stomach; the overseeing doctor made Anatinus up the boy's dosage today.

"I don't posess- understand- the, the rest for easy- God- listen to the bugs, they won't leave me alone, I can't remember anymore..." His babbling receding to a high-pitched whine, he wraps his arms around his knees, pulling his forehead down to touch underneath the table.

Jeremy turns away, wincing. There are days... And there are _days_.

* * *

**SOD here, yet again. Another story? Really?**

**Okay, okay. I know, horrible updating schedule. I am perfectly aware. *stashes semi-started draft of WAWG9* But this one is in- SURPRISE!- Drabble Prompts!**

***celebrations***

**Yeah. I'm going to do this AU in drabbles. Because I can't handle linear multichapters. I'll be updating one a day, I have about ten done already, and I'm doing two a night. If you have any words you'd like to use as prompts, suggest them! I used a word randomizer for the ones I have now, but I'll be thankful for some originality.**

**Here's the basic plot, characterization, whatever, for the kids mentioned this time around. I'll cover more characters as they pop in and out, but this is going to be the main crew.**

**Jeremy: Younger doctor. New guy in town, still idealistic enough to think he can make a difference. Think JD from Scrubs.**

**Dr. Anatinus: Head of the Adolescents ward. If Jeremy is JD, he's Dr. Cox. I'll leave you to figure out the naaa-aame ;)**

**Vanessa: Bipolar, admitted at 11 for cutting.**

**Candace: OCD. Extreme, extreme OCD.**

**Ferb: A foster kid, the sadistic-bastard ex-department head had him in electroshock therapy for screaming every time he was touched- and went a little overboard, nearly killing him when he attempted to speak. Now has severe mental blocks involving speech, and plenty of reservations about being touched or getting emotionally close to people.**

**Isabella: Severely delusional with crippling PTSD after being molested by her father, she holds onto her doll like a life preserver because it's the only thing keeping her marginally sane.**

**Phineas: Schizophrenic with traces of ADHD, with just enough control over his hallucinations to believe he's a reality warper. In case you didn't know, the weird speech he does is actually a symptom of schizophrenia; it's when the word they want to say goes off through its own train of thoughts, jumping from one topic to another until what comes out ends up sounding like somebody vomited a dictionary.**

**... So, those are the basics. I'll see you tomorrow, everybody!**


	2. Ball

Baljeet concentrated hard on the large red ball in front of him.

He was trying to make it levitate. He had heard that such things were possible, if an individual with enough brainpower were to concentrate hard enough. This was a weighted gym ball, though. Not as much hope there.

Still, he kept trying. He may as well. If there was anything else to work on, he hadn't seen it or he would be there in a heartbeat. Plus, the ball was one of the few things here that didn't remind him of school, and thus, did not send him spiraling into a panic attack. The only thing it reminded him of was gym class, where he was repayed by his classmates for humiliating them in front of teachers or girls or whoever. Mostly by beating him up, or, if they were being supervised, "accidentally" hurting him with sports equipment.

And as unpleasant as it was at the time, it was now a welcome reprieve; for any memories of actual schoolwork made him remember his colossal failure.

At least Gym he hadn't been good at in the first place.

* * *

**... Annnddd there's Baljeet. :D Our overachiever extraordinaire. He had a mental breakdown when he overworked himself in school, and now cannot function in that environment without having colossal anxiety. I believe I'll do Irving next; his is sweet. :)**

**On another note, THANK YOU all for your support! I feel so loved! I plan to keep updating this for a while, so stay tuned every night for a new drabble! It will have a few intertwining plot threads, a couple of underlying themes, probably some pairings (I'll star/warn about those, though, and I'll try to represent pairings equally).**

**Once again, feel free to add prompts, things you'd like to see. Gods know, I need the extra work like I need pnemonia. :P But still; keep with the attentions, the prompts, the reviews- or I may forget about this. Ugh, stupid attention span problems. :(**

**Review? :D**


	3. Protein

The brownish slop falls onto Irving's plate with all the grace of mud, splattering halfway over the front of his uniform, and a few drops on his glasses. He blinks like a lost dog for a moment, trying to control the compulsion to clean because he knows if he starts he won't stop. So the short, chubby redhead pulls back his lower lip to gnaw on, and trots to the nearest table, his nose and throat clogging with the need to cry. He feels much too young to be in here, barely nine and lost in a sea of preteens and teenagers. The younger kids get to eat earlier, but he just had a birthday and got stuck with the older crowd.

So he sits at the wood bench, splinters pricking his legs as he shifts his weight, and tries to concentrate on the plate in front of him, instead of the spots on his glasses clouding his vision, or maybe that's the tears, and he forcibly ignores the clamoring need to rub the stains out of his hospital-clean gown.

He's only been like this for a minute, though, when a fellow redhead drops his plate at the other side of the table, swinging only one leg over the bench to straddle it so that he can eat and still face the windows high above. The other boy smiles disarmingly, and Irving feels his panic disappear. He can trust this boy.

His table-mate sticks his spoon in his own pile of goo, where it stands straight up even now unaided. Sighing, he turnes to Irving, a bright but bittersweet smile on his face that makes the younger inmate's heart stop.

"Well... At least it's protein." He laughs. "I'm Phineas. Who're you?"

"Irving." It comes out a whisper, a squeak. Phineas laughs anyways.

"Nice to meet you, Irving."

And he's hooked.

* * *

**Somebody's got a cruuu-uusshh^.^ Haha. Irving is adorably awkward. **

**He got put in because he tends to latch onto people, like the girl in a class of his- who he then followed around for several months, her parents were creeped out, and got a restraining order. Which he then violated, but only because he couldn't help not being close to her, because she gave him a bit of comfort he didn't get from his family. So, DMRC being the closest thing the city has to a juvenile detention center, he got sent there. Of course, it is actually because of his psychological problems that he was in trouble in the first place, so he's with the mental-hospital kids, not the juvy kids. Because Anatinus is nice like that :D (Someone like to take a stab at cracking the name? You all know him, I promise!)**

**Next up will be Buford, I think. Then probably Stacy, and then some individual reviews of characters introduced in "Rate". Seriously, I need better prompt words. Suggestions, please!**

**Reviews are love. 3 Constructive criticism would make me die of happiness.**


	4. Chuck

Buford has had enough. Enough with this stupid place. Enough with these kids that can't depend on themselves for anything. He grew up taking care of himself, his brother, even his own mother, for the love of God. These kids don't even know how to tie their shoelaces alone; he's had to go through so much, why should they get everything so easily?

They're just like the kids at his school, taunting him because they think his experiences have made him weaker instead of tough and callous. They were dead wrong, and they found that out the hard way. Especially when they hurt his fish... He had to show them, it just... It hurt, so he wanted them hurt. That made sense at the time, but now he's stuck in this stupid place because the city had no money for juvy and set it up in a mental hospital. Why a mental hospital? He's not crazy. He's not. How could he be crazy? It's all those kid's faults, they were the ones that goaded him on. And now these whiny brats just won't shut up.

He wants to show them what he can do. He's sick of being helpless, the energy he used to take out on those smirking schoolkids building and building until he just had to do something. And finally a lamp goes out the window high on the wall of the rec room, hits and shatters the only glass free of iron bars left in the entire building.

For a few seconds, everything is silent. Then he hears one of the sunlight-starved children begin to cry, and a seed of guilt begins to take root. Phineas is standing among the littler kids, his arms around two or three, with a look of such wretched helplessness that the younger boy is hard to look at straight.

"Great going, Buford. Now they'll put bars on that, too."

And Buford feels like crying at that, but he doesn't, because he can't, he can't be that weak or that childish because he gave that up so long ago, so he runs out of the room instead, breathing hard and shoving anyone in his way.

This place is awful and he hates it. But he can't get out. He knows he belongs here.

He really is crazy.

* * *

**D'awww. Somebody's having a bit of a crisis. XD Buford was raised in a really crappy home, and shoved other kids around to make up for it.**

**And then one day, the kids in question sneak into his room during school hours, and kill his fish. The only thing his brother ever gave him, a gift for "graduating" from the fourth grade. Buford lost it on them, ended up getting dragged away screaming and crying, and sent to the juvenile detention wing of DMRC. When they figured out how many mental issues he had, he was transferred to being one of the mental patients. Fun, fun.**

**He may seem very maladjusted now, but he does get better suited to their environment. Don't worry. Next chapter was supposed to be Stacy; however, I think I'm going to provide an extra Baljeet-and-Buford chapter because both of these are quite pitiful in length. (Haha. That's what she said.) **

**I hope I've explained things better in-drabble with this one; got a few comments to that effect. (Thanks for the heads-up, BigNeerav!) **

**Also, with explanations; I guess I didn't make this quite clear; DMRC used to be just a mental hospital for regular ole' crazies that saw strange things and talked as two different people. Then, in the seventies or so, Danville had a major gang outburst; problem was, it was all teenagers, so they had about seventy adolescents ranging from eighteen to twelve, and nowhere to put them. There was no juvenile detention center, just a regular jail. Where, they reasoned, the kids would only get exposed to more violence and criminal acts than they would with no punishment, and they certainly wouldn't get better.**

**So, somebody suggested a third option: clear out a separate ward, the Nothern Wing, in the then-Danville Lunatic Asylum, and station child or teenage felons there, with hopes that as kids, they could be more easily rehabilitated and returned to society from a hospital, than from a jail.**

**Therefore, DMRC is not for the criminally insane. It just has a juvy ward, and they can get transferred to the actual crazies department, the East Wing, if they're judged as screwed-up enough.**

**Anyways, next chapter: "Kidnapping", featuring the Nerd and the Bully coming closer together. Awwwww. After that, I'll continue with various characters and relationships, because I have too long of a to-do list, and at 20, I'll start the first actual plot arc! YAAAAAY! Thank you all for your wonderful, wonderful prompts. They work way, way better than the stupid word-generator.**

**So, I'll see you then, kakay? :)**

**Reviews are love. Constructive criticism will earn a glomp and a cookie.**


	5. Kidnap

The first time Baljeet felt Buford pick him up by the waist, he was terrified. This was a larger boy, much stronger and probably three times his weight, who was holding him up and carrying him under his big, meaty arm. The resemblance between him and every other boy who had ever pushed the Indian child around was gargantuan, and trust was hard to build.

Over time, it became more and more commonplace; Baljeet found that somehow Buford could never bring himself to actually hurt him, and Buford figured out ways to announce his presence, by stomping or humming, so as not to take "his" nerd by surprise. Surprise was not good for Baljeet, and a "sneak attack" generally ended as a sneak _panic_ attack, with much to-do with the nurses and extra medication and therapy session. The fuss was disconcerting, and enough of a deterrent to get Buford to learn quickly.

Eventually, it was an event not even noticed or remarked upon. Like today; Baljeet was sitting with Phineas by a table, playing Tic-Tac-Toe on the paper.

Buford casually strolled by, and as he passed, grabbed the nerd by the hip, held on and kept going, dragging Baljeet behind him, and once the smaller boy managed to match his speed, curled him under his arm.

Baljeet sighed, going limp in the stronger boy's grasp. "Bye, Phineas."

* * *

**Short. I know. I need my sleep.**

**I'll, um, add an author's note later. I don't know. I'm tired.**

**Prompts please; reviews please; next up is Stacy, and then Vanessa, et cetera, et cetera. Now let me go to bed.**


	6. Schedule

For a long time, it was difficult for Stacy to get used to such a structured life. Eight, wake-up and morning pills. Eight thirty, breakfast. Nine, therapy. Ten, standard activity like crafts or games. Ten-thirty, back to rooms. Twelve, take the next dose and get trotted down to lunch. Twelve thirty, treadmill walking or yoga exercise. Two, group therapy. Three, Rec room. Five, dinner. Five thirty, TV time. Seven, rooms; eight, get ready for bed. Then lay down, and try to ignore the screaming coming from the South Wing- the one with the bad patients.

At first, it was terrifying, and boring, and she was contemplating escape, even though she had nowhere to go. Her mother was controlling, almost worse than the rules of the mental hospital, and unlike them she didn't even pretend that she meant well, having sold her (literally, for $10,000) to a convicted child molester as a wife. The last straw had snapped, and she went screaming to her counselors at school that she was hearing somebody talking to her that wasn't there, that she felt like two different people living in one body, that she acted differently every day. She did her research well; she was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder, committed to DMRC and put on pills and schedules, under the control of everyone around her, although thankfully none were her mother.

It was difficult, though. Giving up all control, giving away your ability to decide for yourself. It was nearly too much; she was making plans to crawl through three vents and escape through a bathroom window when it happened.

She found a friend. An old friend from elementary school, committed for extreme OCD at ten, Candace introduced her to Vanessa, who introduced her to Ferb, to Phineas, then down the line; Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, Irving, and then, out of the blue, came Jeremy. They became a surrogate family, helping keep each other afloat in a sea of uncertainty and powerlessness. Seeing them throughout the day were always bright points, and it made the rest bearable.

And now, Stacy doesn't know what she would do without a schedule. They call it being institutionalized, being unable to live outside of captivity. Strangely enough, she's fine with that. Because now, this is her home, her sanctuary, a safe place that an _asylum _was always defined as, but never was, until she found her real family.

* * *

**Hi-hiiiii! Another update! I'm probably gonna slip off of the one-a-day train in a few weeks, knowing me, but until then, enjoy the abundance of ficcage! Now, I know, I know, Mrs. Hirano isn't that bad in the show. However, in TSOH, I'm going to make most of the parents a little (or a lot) worse. Why? Because they sent their kids off to insane asylums! That's why!**

**Actually, you might think that a girl being sold into marriage never happened anymore, at least at the US; but this story was actually based on truth. My substitute teacher (who taught for over twenty years at my school with his wife, retired, and kept on subbing) once knew a girl, smart as anything, grades good enough to go to medical school; then all of a sudden, she stops coming to school, event though she had a perfect attendance record before. Finally, Mr. B (not going to give the real name) goes into the attendance office to find out what's up.**

**That's right. The girl's parents SOLD her. For $10,000. He never saw her again. This was in _1997_. **

**... So yeah.**

**Anyways, tomorrow is Vanessa, then Candace. So stay tuned for either "Knife" or "Wrapping". (I can't decide; Knife explains things better, but Wrapping is so much better-written...)**

**ANYWAYS.**

**Reviews would be a-frickin'-mazing. Constructive criticism makes me dance around my room like a squirrel on ecstasy. Baibai!**


	7. Betrayal

Candace knows every inch of this room.

It's the one she always gets put in with Jeremy, for her sessions every morning, drooping from interrupted sleep and an extra dose of medication. The room she sits in and stares at him, where he thinks it's because of her OCD but she knows it's because _she's in love_.

Before Jeremy arrived, the eighteen-year-old never had a crush before. That much was obvious enough, with only a handful of boys her age in their ward and none of them stable. But around Jeremy, her face gets hot and her heart flutters, and every time he smiles at her she wants to smile back, which is possibly the strangest thing. Because she was here way back when Brandt was still in charge, and she had _never_ trusted her therapists fully.

Before Jeremy, she had never trusted anyone fully. Vanessa and Stacy used to joke that her "little brother" (fellow redhead, admitted on the same day) Phineas had somehow transferred the paranoia of his paranoid-schizophrenia over to her, leaving him bright and trusting, her vigilant and suspicious.

And now, looking at the differences between how she acted when the blonde was around and when he wasn't, she could see that. She never relied on anyone like she did on him.

So she waits for him to show, snooping in the corner file cabinet for one of Phineas's old drawings of their therapy group; she wants to show it to Vanessa, who came in only a few weeks later, because it's just too adorable not to.

Then she hears his voice, and she ducks behind the cabinet, hoping to frighten him, perhaps get the first word in and start a conversation about how Phineas is plotting with Ferb and Isabella to rebuild the ventilation system and build a killer death robot with the scraps. (She _swears_ she has evidence).

But then she hears another voice. Sweet and lilting... But it has an edge, of competition, of venom, of desperation.

"But Jeremy, why do you have to spend all day here? It's so boring! Wouldn't you rather just spend the day with me?" It's a _girl_. Her voice drips like honey, coating a veiled promise; Candace can tell this is a proposition. She can only pray that it isn't what she thinks it is, as she starts to feel nauseous with broken trust and tears burn behind her eyes.

"Of course I'd love to spend time with you, Suzy. But these kids need my help. They're just like us or anybody else, and I have to help them get better."

"They're _not_ like anyone else! They're nuts, it's not like you can un-nut them, Jeremy. They must be so boring- haven't you always said I'm your favourite girl in the whole wide world?" Damn the owner of that voice, she sounds pretty and innocent, with teeth that would tear and bite anyone in their way. Whoever said youth meant innocence discounted this girl, for she sounds quite a few years younger than Jeremy himself (twenty-two, she knows, he trusted her enough to tell her, and oh, it hurts, because no he didn't not really), perhaps even younger than Candace (Eighteen, old enough for their relationship to be legal, if he wasn't her therapist). Why would he want _Her_? (Why wouldn't he want Her, if another choice is a crazy girl? She never had a chance)

"Suzy, I did say that, but I'm older now. I have responsibilities. Wait for me at home, all right?" He's so responsible, and he always keeps his word, no matter what. He's trustworthy. (But not anymore, no, not anymore, because she was wrong, and he could never really love her).

The girl sighs, and the redhead, hiding behind the door now, can nearly see her coquettish pout, and feels a sudden urge to see it slapped off.

"Fine. I love you, Jeremyy-yy!" She sing-songs his name. Candace silently vows never again to let the note of C sharp pass her vocal chords.

"Love you too, Suzy." He's half-laughing, and she hears him turn away, the opposite direction from the girl, down the hall to a different room. Candace thanks whatever gods may be watching for the small favor.

She sneaks down the scrubbed white hallways, around precise corners, and back into her tiny, dingy room.

And she finally lets herself scream.

* * *

**Erm. I'm really not sure if this is any good. I wrote this in basically one day, because I freaked out over lunch and remembered I totally didn't have a Candace shot ready, and then worked frantically on it for a couple hours after school, and then halfway through typing this author's note realized that I was supposed to do Vanessa's today instead... *epicfacepalm***

**I may as well post it before I start thinking it's crappy, though.**

**Would you guys like to start a reviewers-reply system on the AN? It might bother some people with length and all, but all y'all deserve so much thanks, and I'm awful with PMs. It'd work like letters. Let me try a sample, for the High Lord of Terra because he(?) has been SO awesome about reviewing every chapter and prompting and suchlike!**

**Dear Milord:**

**I thank you for your royal attentions. *curtsy* You are quite beastly in the art of consistent reviewing; I give you much props. *nodnod*. I swear by the ever-consistent angles of Phineas's triangle head, "Knife" is next. I just needed this posted, like, NOW or I'll want to trash it. :3 If you do notice anything needing, as you put it, "ConCrit" (which I'm SO stealing BTW, cause that's a great abbreviation), kindly feel free to inform me with all the bluntness of a steak mallet.**

**Best wishes, **

**S.O.D.**

**... Thoughts? Reviews? ConCrit? PLORX? *loldesperate***


	8. Knife

The old, scarred metal blade holds so many memories.

Vanessa can only stand and stare, at the switchblade, a present from an older boy when she was ten- because she "played ball like a boy".

It was the knife she used on her wrists when she was eleven. She can still feel the scars, knows they lurk under her sleeves, bright red, a marker to the world that she's crazy, abnormal, different. She reaches up to touch with her left index finger, limp at her side while her right fiddles with the familiar handle, the half-hidden spring that latches closed so that no one but those in-the-know may reveal the sharp, dangerous edge beneath.

She can remember hiding this in a hole on the bottom of her shoe, that she had hollowed out and melted excess rubber back onto with a lighter to make it look like nothing was there at all. But you could pull back the rubber piece, only melted on three sides, and find that a middle-school girl keeps a knife in her shoe. What kind of paranoid, delusional, freak would do that? they'd wonder, and she'd have to pretend she didn't care what anybody thought. Again.

Curse her father for bringing this back to haunt her. Curse Perry for letting her see it. Blue-haired bastard should have thrown it out the window the second he knew.

Vanessa knows that isn't true, though. He didn't know this had been her cutting knife. He probably thought it was just a talisman, that blood had never tainted that blade, still as sharp today as it had been six (or was it seven) years ago. Even though it had, and as she sits in the office, finger resting on the point of the blade, she can feel the itch on her wrist again. She curses herself, because there is nothing wrong with her, damnit, but the need is still there, the desperate refuge of a preteen girl still alive and strong within her.

The brunette raises her head, proud and confident. She ignores the itch. She will not give in. She will not damage herself anymore.

She folds the blade in, sets it on the desk, and doesn't look at it again for the rest of the session.

* * *

**SOD, again. Finally got this one up. I originally planned to give Vanessa "Wrapping" as her intro, which is about her being put in a straightjacket when she's younger, but it got a little long-winded and then THLOT came along with awesomely delicious prompts.**

**Next, I believe, will be Phineas. I've been waiting to post his for a while :) Then Ferb, Isabella, Jeremy, Anatinus (Perry, come on, you all knew), maybe Doof... Oh, and by the way...**

**I meant to put fifteen as the starting point for a plot arc. Not twenty. Fifteen. Me and numbers don't get along. *blushes***

**On with letters; I'll be going in order of posting. Or at least, the order in which they showed up in my Inbox.**

**(At 3AM, once the Internets is back up from glitching all day) *typetypetype* HEEHEE I'M DOING GOOD EVERYONE SHALL BE SO IMPRESSED WITH MY LOVELY NOTES NOW TO COPY-PASTE INTO THE DOCUMENT AND POST SO THAT I CAN SLEEP:**

**(Accidentally clicks CUT)**

**WHUT.**

**NO. **

**Okay. Fuckin' fine. 3:40 AM. Not going to screw around with writing all that. AGAIN. Suffice to say, I love you all, but my crappy computer skillz need to go DIE IN A HOLE.**


	9. Bed

It's mid-morning, again. Therapy sessions are over, there's not much time until lunch starts, and Phineas can feel his medication beginning to wear off. The fog is fading from his vision, and he can think inside his head again; he no longer has to resort to speaking aloud to make sense of his thoughts, because his mind is starting to become clearer, less crowded. They may think it helps, but really, all the pills do are stuff up his brain so that he can't think without his mouth and ears re-confirming what's said, and clog up the pathways enough that even if he is speaking to someone else, he can't make sense of what he's saying and neither can they. But once he's back in his room- block of bare concrete though it is, with a tiny, broken bed and an old sink and toilet on the other wall that he tries to ignore- he can pay attention to the glory allowed inside by the ancient, dirty window with iron bars.

And he sits on his bed, quiet at last, wondering at the tiny rays of sunshine draping across the floor, falling like droplets of water that hold their shape while they soar, and burst into a broad puddle on the cold concrete. It's _warm_, the light, and he knows that in about an hour, right before the nurse comes with his second dose of Seroquel, the bright warmth and heat will make its way onto the bed, over the blankets and sheets, and he will be able to bask in the light for almost twenty minutes before the nurse comes, and then another ten before he fogs up again.

He wishes he could go outside. He always has, for as long as he can remember. He even hears vague echoes, sometimes, in the back of his memories- _"But Mommy, I don't wanna take my nap! I wanna play outsii-iide!"-_ that he is sure are his words, before she started getting that worried look on her face as he chattered about his visions, back before she started fighting with Gerald who yelled at him for laughing, back when he was still free, back when he still felt normal.

The sky, outside the tiny, barred window, is just barely visible, and Phineas often avoids looking at it just so he doesn't have to see the iron bars holding him in, but it's a bright, light blue today, with no clouds but the ones made by the grimy window.

It's his favourite part of the entire day, to be honest, soaking up the sunshine into his pale, wind-starved skin, closing his eyes and imagining that the sheets below are grass, that the roof above is sky, and that he is free once again.

* * *

**HI PEEPS.**

**AWWWW. Poor Phineas; he and Isabella are probably going to be the most different from their show-counterparts. Phineas is a kid who thrives on action, on doing things, making things happen, playing outside, being free. He does not seem like the type to take being locked up at all well. And Isabella... Well, how I got her put in here is just cruel, and she isn't going to recover easily. But she will. I PROMISE.**

**... Is it weird that I say "in here" like I _live_ in the DMRC? Well, I probably belong in SOME sort of institution, so it's not so far off. XD Oh, and updates may get very strange for a while; we're having issues with internet, so... yeah, I'll have to upload this at school. FFFUUUU-**

**ANYWAYS. (You can stop here if you don't want to read all my crap. I just have to do it in-AN because of my attention span issues with PMs.)**

**Emperor Doof:**

**OHAI**

**I FORGOT ABOUT YOU (ALMOST). MAYBE YOU SHOULD TOTALLY REVIEW MORE NOW. :D Just cuz I'm a feedback whore. XD**

**Vanessa is, on average, dark and depressing in this. She is by far the most cynical. But she is also one of the healthiest, and probably going to get out eventually. I'm thinking about doing a bit of a sequence for each of them when they leave the asylum. Candace... Yeah, she falls easily. But she does find out who exactly Suzy is, although not without some confusion.**

**B&B I personally think are going to be the most IC, just a little more... Eccentric. I like that word. I like Defenestrate too, but...**

***AHEM***

**Anywhos. It's nice that you don't find anything. I of course feel the need to pick and poke at everything I do with my perfectionist tendencies, but then I pick it to death and everything just sort of falls apart. *facepalm* I hope the history did make sense, I generally end up explaining things as if everyone knows this story as intimately as I do. XD Oops.**

**-S.O.D.**

**pomtdwt:**

**I seriously have no idea what your name means. You should, like, totally un-anon so I can creep your profile and not screw up with tone and things. :P I have problems with that. I assume everyone on here is naturally a teenage girl, but then I have to go creep their profiles to make sure they aren't, like, a fifty-year-old gentleman that I just said "LOL" to. It makes me nervous not knowing who you are, dude. THIS GOES FOR ALL ANONNERS BTW. JUST SAYIN, IT MAKES ME MORE COMFORTABLE TO KNOW WHO YOU AREEE. (Even though I'll love you anyways for reviewing)**

**And now finally back on topic, Vanessa is quite the poor thing. All these kids are. YOU KNOW WHY? They're locked up. NO DUH. *thumbs-up***

**-S.O.D.**

**2 headed dragonlover:**

**Yeah, I know. I'll post it eventually...**

**E-VEN-TUALLY! *heroic pose***

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**Vanessa is extremely badass. You know it in your heart to be true.**

**-S.O.D.**

**High Lord Of Terra:**

**Ahhhh, Milord. I have missed you so. You were always the first to comment before, I was strangely intrigued. But I figured it was either because I updated at 3AM or because I skipped your note and that was your revenge. XD (Yes I am a creeper. Deal. I have too much brainspace.)**

**EEEEEEEEEEE THANK YOU SO MUCH. I love being complemented on my writing. I personally think it's crap most of the time, and it makes me feel better. So glad I got the emotion across; I can only hope I did the same with this chappie. Actually, for whatever reason my brain LOOOVES having my AU characters meet In-Universe PnF and friends- DMRC!Vanessa actually grabs NormalNessa by the wrist, stares her in the eyes, and tells her: "We are exactly the same. Except _I_ got _caught_." This is generally the kind of place my mind travels at 1AM. Don't ask; I pity any future spouse of mine that has to deal with me at that hour. :P**

**She doesn't have it, like, in her room, because obviously they wouldn't let a former cutter keep a knife with them, so it stays in Perry's office, where she goes every day for therapy. So it does belong to her again, but she's not allowed to have it in her room, just mess with it as a sentimental thing.**

**UPDATE GRANTED, MILORD. DUH. And I will be using most of your prompts. I find them most helpful. :D**

**-S.O.D.**

**Anyways! I love you all for reviewing! Review to get a letter, folks; prompt if you think of any; and if you notice any mistakes, for the love of the Goddess, TELL ME. Did you feel like the letters made the AN too long, though? I feel guilty about that. Maybe I won't do it, I could save the letters for Kamikakushi...**

**IGNORE MY RAMBLINGS**

**BAIBAI BEETCHES.**


	10. Electricity

The wire was uncovered. Vanessa has less than three seconds to get to the boy before he picks it up, and it wasn't _nearly_ enough time before-

His hand closes around bright copper. A spark, and his body stiffens, unable to let go from the current playing havoc on his muscles; he's twitching, his green hair beginning to singe at the ends, his limbs jerking with misplaced energy, before the older girl rips the wires from his hand and yanks him close.

And Ferb is shaking, his breathing stuttering, stopping, gasping, because his diaphragm can't handle the electricity that's been pumped through it, and wide brown eyes stare at her, just as they did years ago, with the pleading look of _help me, help me please_. And Vanessa curses herself for being unable to help, just like she was back then, when the same eyes gazed at her from under younger lashes, his body still small and helpless from the veritable torture Brandt put him through. And only for a single thrill that complete power over a child's life brought. She hoped he was glad he had been discharged, or she would have _killed_ him by now.

Ferb himself is paying no attention to the girl with her arms around him, lost in memories; of screaming, over and over, for his mother to help him, or just to make noise, to show defiance, and every time feeling the current race through his body again and again, each time stressing his heart until he was sure it would stop, nearly praying it would.

It's a frightening thing, being a six-year-old with a death wish.

His nerves are screaming at the entry and exit points, his right hand and left ankle, the burns a semi-familiar ache now as it all floods back to him. He can remember, now, the lonely nights, silently crying under the pale light of the moon in his cell, trying to clean his raw skin with shaking hands and a torn sheet-corner soaked in dusty water. Those were the first times that he found himself unable to speak, the first times he didn't scream, because he couldn't- because even if his brain knew that the wires were gone, that Brandt was gone, his voice was still hiding, still afraid of the pain speech would bring.

So he suffers in silence, yet again; but now, he has Vanessa to pull him close, holding him like she was afraid he would dissappear. And he can hug her back, thanking her without words once again.

* * *

**HALLO THAR**

**I wrote this on excessive amounts of caffiene. So if it makes no sense at all, blame the chemicals. Ferb is a very interesting case, and I think I'll need to do a few follow-up chapters just to clear a few things up a bit. His mother was English, the police were chasing her for some... Unspecified... Reason... (Doesn't really know) And so she moves to America, where for whatever reason the police get a competence upgrade and catch her, taking her four-year-old son. Who then puts up a HUGE fuss in the foster home he was put in, screaming every time he was touched, blah blah blah... Bastard ex-department head Brandt decides to electrocute him, but he doesn't want to f*** with the budget and upgrade the technology they've had since the Civil War; why do that? And so he gets shocked into silence and submission by a power-crazed douchebag of epic proportions. I hope that made sense.**

**MAIL TIME.**

**CorieChan:**

**AHHH THANK YOU. I love how everyone is so accepting of this; I thought I'd get flamed out of existence, honestly. XD The characters I'm trying to keep at their same spiritual essence, but having gone through horrible experiences instead of amazing ones. It's a little difficult, but rewarding. :) Irving may be a pain in-show sometimes, but I think at heart he's just a lonely little kid; I used to obsess over my friends like that (Okay, mostly in my head and never to that degree) when I was SEVERELY depressed and lonely in middle school. I feel for him, and it comes out.**

**I really don't know what you're talking about. Granted, I haven't seen many newer episodes- we moved and our cable is f***ed up. So yeah. I just always picture him as a doctor, I don't know why. I guess because Candace always assumes she and Jeremy will have the "perfect life" together- I come from a family of doctors, and that's basically the highest-end practical fantasy job you get. And he does seem like a very caring and helpful guy. Keep with the wild mass guessing, though; it stimulates the brain!**

**-S.O.D.**

**DarkChao1663:**

**D'awww. Poor little druggie. :P I'm really anti-medication, in case this fic doesn't hit that home. My meds made me miserable for years. I know plenty of people need them to function, but to me they've done basically nothing but make my life a living hell.**

**This fic is very fun to write. I can only hope it's just as much fun to read. :)**

**-S.O.D.**

**EmperorDoof:**

**YOU'D BETTER MISSY *angry eyes*. XD**

**She does, sort of, but again, I was really mean to her. *sweatdrops* But Phineas would just generally NOT function in that environment, with the combination of his disorder and his personality. And I have personal vendetta against drugs, so that explains the negativity there...**

**I was hoping that would get people. I'm doing my best to convey a massive amount of emotion in here, and most of it is stuff I've felt. THANK YOU for the complements! :D**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**Don't you, though? I always get a mental image of him, reaching up to a window, singing "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" in his little-boy tenor voice... *sobs quietly* Maybe I'll write that. Maybe I won't. Who knows?**

**-S.O.D.**

**Dearest Milord (I got started like this, SO not stopping now XD)**

**NOOOOOOOOO (ducks under rock)**

**Yeahhhh, the 3am thing was a bit of an isolated incident, though. I fell asleep at nine (early for me) and woke up at three. This was one of those days when my internet decided to randomly stop working on me... So I checked it again, and BEHOLD! It was up, and so I spent about an hour editing and stuff before I posted at, like, 3:40. And when I woke back up at 6, I felt like shit. PSSST- totally not east coast. SORRY. *cough*MIDWEST*cough***

***hit with 2x4 for violating rules of teh interwebz***

**And I agree, school sucks. It does. *nodnod*.**

**Aaanywho, Perry really isn't that bad... But he still has to go through the board of directors, with their rule-mongering and beauracratic bullshit, and it used to be, when he was just a normal doctor, that he worked under Dr. Brandt- who I will eventually cover, but suffice to say, I CREATED him and I want to toss him out of a window. Power corrupts, it seems. I'll go over that in a few chapters. :)**

**I think that Phineas is a kid who thrives on freedom and independence and creativity; deprived of them, he would slowly drive himself insane, like a starving man who tries to eat his own arm. :P I don't know. It's late. I'm tired. You know, in my weird AU-meets-NormalPnF... thinghie, he does this mind-bonding thing with his other self, and they exchange memories... NormalPhineas breaks it off because he can't handle that much trauma packed into, like, ten minutes of memories, and he's bawling his eyes out even practically unconscious. I'm strange. I don't know why I publish this weird shit on here. OH WAIT. BECAUSE THERE WILL ALWAYS BE WEIRDER SHIT.**

**Yes, Isabella's life sucks too. Everyone's life sucks. That's half the joy of it. Schadenfreude, much? :P Badass company, it is, then. :D**

**YOU WILL NOT HAVE TO WAIT MUCH LONGER. FOR HERE I AM. And your prompts are amazing, SRSLY.**

**-S.O.D.**

**AHHHHH YAY. GOODNIGHT EVERYBODY. I FEEL BAD FOR TREMENDOUS AN'S BUT I NEED TO TELL MY REVIEWERS HOW MUCH I LOVE THEM. REVIEW IF YOU WANT A LETTER OR HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THEM. CONCRIT WILL BE APPRECIATED. I LIKE MY CAPSLOCK.**

**Night!**


	11. Brotherhood

The only sounds in the nurse's office are heavy coughs and gentle breathing, clicking of pens, beeping computers. Boring, Phineas thinks, and there aren't even any windows.

He has no idea why anyone would build _anything_ without windows. When he gets a house, he'll make sure that every room has at least three.

But for now, he's stuck on the tiny cot, the remainders of his annual winter pneumonia case still rattling his lungs and stuffing up his nose and throat. He may be eight, but he's tiny for his age, and gets sick easily- so easily that every doctor knows, if Flynn so much as breathes wrong past October, they need to get him on extra doses of vitamin C or Anatinus will rip their heads off.

So he's on the rough sheets that are almost never washed, thinking, and very much glad that the medications he needs for his pneumonia case keep him from having to take his Seroquel. And on the wall, he finds a tree to watch, growing up from the trunk, with long tendrils that somehow pass for branches that twist and twirl and stretch into leaves. He listens to his own heartbeat, the rhythm of life in his thin chest, and with every thump, the tree surges outwards, green shoots sprouting off of grey branches, ready to bloom in only two dimensions, expanding with each steady beat.

The door is going to open. He can hear the footsteps, and, staring at the strong, tall tree, he knows exactly who is going to come through that door.

The large, metal-covered door manages to shift aside, allowing room for a head to peek through, a man with brown eyes and blue hair, friendly-looking with a crooked nose and a large mouth.

Phineas pushes himself up, eyes brightening. "Perry!" But as overjoyed as he is to see his doctor and friend, he is mystified; this is not who he sensed was coming to visit, and his little hunches have never been wrong before.

But Anatinus lifts his hands to sign, his casual clothes getting half-caught in the propped-open door because he refuses to wear a labcoat. _"I brought a friend"_, his slender hands speak for him.

And Phineas's best friend peers around the doctor's legs, scouting out the room, before Ferb bolts like a veritable whirlwind into the quiet nurse's office, making a beeline for the redhead on the tiny cot to wrap his arms around the sickly boy. Phineas lets himself relax into the embrace, because as uncomfortable as it may be he knows that physical contact from Ferb is nothing to be taken at all lightly. Coming from the green-haired boy, it is the ultimate marker of comradeship, of family ties, the closest he can get to someone. Phineas knows he is privileged to be pulled into his "brother"s arms.

He steadies his breathing, not wanting the other boy to worry at the rattling in his lungs, and wraps his arms around Ferb, holding himself halfway off the bed with his friend's strength.

Phineas begins to laugh, and Ferb pulls away to sit on the edge of the cot, shaking with silent giggles himself. They pause, look at each other, and stifle more laughter; but finally, Phineas runs his eyes across the blank walls, just begging to be filled with his mind's creations.

"So, Ferb, what're we going to create today?"

* * *

**Awwwriiight, I guess I owe an explanation. I would've liked to have a few more days to comb this over, but I only came up with it today and wanted to post it before I got into Isabella and Jeremy and everyone else, sooo...**

**Phineas has touches of a "Waif Prophet" thing going on; he can sometimes sense people approaching (or he thinks he can) by the symbols that appear in his visions. For instance, Ferb's is a tree. Perry's is generally running water, or a riverbank. Vanessa is a lit match; Candace is leaves blowing in wind, Isabella a sea coast, et cetera, et cetera. A lot of his hallucinations are nature-themed, because that's what he desires to see more than anything else.**

**And when he talks about "creating" things, he's speaking of a sort of game he and Ferb play; they draw pictures and create things in and on the walls, with Phineas's hallucinations. It's a little weird, but Ferb seems to get it all right, because the two of them are practically psychic anyways, and Isabella gets pulled into it sometimes too. Candace, being Candace, always thinks they're doing these things for real, and seeks to catch them. Which, obviously, she can't. Because they're not real. For her, at least. For Phineas, for Ferb, for Isabella, they end up realer than most of the nurses and doctors.**

**On to letters. Gods I'm tired.**

**Dearest Milord:**

**I 3 MY CAPSLOCK. IT IS ENDLESS FUN. XD**

**Eeeeeevillll... *pets cat***

***gets clawed***

**DAMNIT, BENNIE! (my cat hates me... D:)**

**OOh, evil peoples! I've heard of darkseid, never looked him up. I'll do it tomorrow. Today. Whatever. Later.**

**Elaboration rulez, dood.**

**I'd sort of like to do a series of chapters with all of them meeting their "real" selves. I already have planned a series of their discharges and beginnings into the real world, one of them in therapy, one of them on a road trip... I dunno. I'll work on it. Again, your prompts are beastly, and I SHALL use them much. Many much. Moosen. Yeah, I need sleep.**

**-S.O.D.**

**FizzyStarburst:**

**Yeah, no Ferbessa for youz. My apologies. But in this, they met when he was five. Which is a problem *cough*WESTERMARKEFFECT*cough*, and they have more of a brother-sister vibe here. Everyone does, really, except Candace and Jeremy (because they're totally obvious) and there might be a few tiny shipping chapters, with hintings of Stacy liking Candace, Ferb comforting Isabella, Isabella with her crush on Phineas, Irving with his crush on Phineas, how Buford and Baljeet's relationship goes while they hit puberty... yeah. I don't really know. I need to stop answering these at midnight, it screws up my thought processes.**

**I am very glad they're in character. I have issues with that. *kicksWAWGintocorner*.**

**Thanks so much!**

**-S.O.D.**

**EmperorDoof:**

**Haha. Laziness FTW! I would high-five you. But I don't feel like lifting my arm. XD**

**I think you did. I don't really know. But I think so.**

**HOLY SHIT DUDE. I actually based his name off the first name of my asshole stepfather and sadistic teacher (oddly enough they have the same name, and so did a kid who tormented me in middle school... Maybe all boys named (X) are destined to want me miserable? Dunno.), and barely gave a thought to who he could have been IRL. That's scary, that is.**

**He was a bit of a creeper towards Vanessa and got her put in a padded room and straightjacket when she mouthed off, verbally assaulted Candace a little bit, and made them constantly up Phineas's meds. He's an asshole who got drunk on power too damn fast. And yeah, I have a theory about that one- if you have someone to protect, you manage to pull yourself a little back from the edge. Remove the log from your own eye before helping the speck out of theirs. (I don't read the christian bible much, but that phrase stuck over the years)**

**Probably deported, yeah. I don't know. I'll make it up when I need it.**

**Haha, puns are good. I like my light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnes mentality too, it's hopeful and depressing at the same time.**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**He is a bastard. I needed some sort of villian for this piece, after all. Calm down, we're big people here. I swear like a sailor myself, and I feel a little guilty when people make a deal of it, truth be told. CX **

**Yeah, he's not gonna be, though. I'm reminded of an Emilie Autumn interview that I'll probably quote in-fic sometime: "A doctor could think you're interesting or hot and keep you locked up in there for years, just for a science project or a sex doll, and no one believes you, because you're just the raving crazy girl and he's the psychologist with the million-dollar education." It kind of details how little power these kids have; I can definitely understand why Stacy was hesistant to go in when she didn't even deserve to. :P (she faked MPD to get put away to escape her crappy home life, in case I didn't get it across.)**

**Well, bad situations are really what creates amazing friendships; you can't make a diamond out of coal without pressure, after all. How come you think my brother and I are such awesome buddies? We had to stick together because our stepdad was a massive douche, that's how. **

**I love those two as friends. They have such great potential.**

**-S.O.D.**

**ANYWHOOO. The picture he imagines growing on the wall is "boundless, part 2" by pentangled on DeviantArt. Search "boundless", it's the tree-looking thing in, like, the third row. And you should totally comment, 'cause it's beastly.**

**Erm. If there's anything else to say, I forgot it. Review. Constructive criticism. Prompts. I need more tea. Goodnight everybody.**


	12. Fake

The doctor is lying. She can _tell_.

With her long blond hair, in a ponytail, her glasses, square-rimmed, her suit, ironed and starched and held in place with so many rigorous measures just like the rest of her. The look of her, the essence of upper-middle-class-two-and-a-half-kids-aren't-I-so-freaking-perfect smarmy _crap _that rolls off of her like her very pores secrete self-assured normality. No. That is not a real person, Isabella knows off the bat. That is a persona, assumed as a role every day, religiously and without fail. Under the surface, she's just as crazy as any of them inside the asylum.

Isabella's job now is to prove that. And she reasons, if Doctor Larezs is going to be a fake, she has permission to be one too.

So the second she walks in the room, sees Larezs, judges, and plans, she adjusts; her shoulders align, her head tilts, she brings Sabbie up to her chest and hugs her close, playing "helpless crazy girl" and milking the overplayed act for all it's worth.

In the chair, her eyes are vacant, directed at the window just above rather than the woman in front of it. Phineas would love that window; you could see the whole world from there, practically. Why did the doctors get large, bright, clean windows, with the actual inmates left with tiny, grubby mouse holes to see into the world, so old that they seemed to be half-glass, half congealed dirt?

But she keeps the ugly thoughts off her face, strumming her innocence and Ophelia-esque attitued like a well-tuned guitar.

"So-" The woman actually has to look at the paper to figure out her name. For the love of God, couldn't these people even pretend they cared? "- Isabella, why are you in here, do you think?"

Her voice becomes thin and breathy, vague inflection draping across her sentences like a silk ribbon. "My daddy was being mean to Sabbie. I wanted to go home. But then Mommy found me talking to Sabbie about what Daddy did to her, and she made me come here. She promised she'd come back. She hasn't come back yet." She let the remainder of her breath slide out of her, staring at the good doctor with a look of innocence, glazed with helpless victimisation. "Why hasn't my mommy come back yet, Doctor?"

Larezs stutters a blushing reply, and while she shuffles in her file of lies and self-deceptions, Isabella lets herself grin. If these people are going to send her fakes and pretenders, they'll find out just how well she can play that game.

* * *

**Annnddd here is the fantastically screwed-up Isabella! This generally isn't how she acts, but it's how she acts around strangers; with friends she's a little closer to canon. Adults scare her, and so she tries to scare them in return.**

**The thing with Sabbie... Isabella couldn't handle the memories of what happened to her, so in her mind, they happened to "Sabbie", who, I hate to be that psychologist who actually uses this phrase, is a "manifestation of her inner child". Effectively, she's divorced herself from that part of her, and it's really bad for her mental state. She hates strange people, and anyone bigger than her. This is a try at a newer arrangement in the therapy section; her normal counselor is a deaf gay man from Mexico, Dr. Rosa. (Ring any bells? XD) Larezs drops the girl like a hot rock and goes back to keeping vandals in line after this one. XD**

**I'm sorry I didn't update; I guess you all know about the big crash, right? Logins f***ed up for basically all of yesterday afternoon until this morning. So I couldn't get on. Crappy site is crappy.**

**LETTERS!**

**Dearest Milord;**

**Yeah, things work out decently well for pretty much everyone. I'm not ALL sadist, after all. :3 Yeah, if your HERO is crazy, then the villian should definitely be worse. ALWAYSSSS.**

**DUDE. I search TVTropes like it's my life. Procrastination, ahoy! :D I've read that theory, and I think it's a little depressing. But yes, it does suck for her. Very much so. She's... Not the most stable of the bunch. I should make, like, a scale here, because I'm putting them all up in my head in a list of "Crazy - Crazier - Craziest" and it's driving me slightly mad that no one else knows it.**

**Well, this story skips around in timeline a lot. He will show up at points, and his rise and fall will probably get detailed at... One point or another.**

**I love cats, I don't know why. Bennie's just kind of badass and hates being picked up. I swear he was a supervillian's cat in another life; just sits and chills with this "I'm-so-going-to-take-over-the-world" face. And cursing.. Yeah, I think I'll upgrade this to "T" in a while, mostly just 'cause I can't stop cursing in the author's note. XD Well, Plot-Chapters will have a lot of Vanessa, and she swears, so yeah. I'll use that as an excuse. :)**

**Lack of sleep is not good. Sleep is helpful. So yeah.**

**-S.O.D.**

**Kissy Fishy:**

**Well, they're not always this young. Chapters skip around in ages. I'll try to specify every time, but if I don't just assume they're about ten. Phineas has schizophrenia; I figured y'all would be able to tell by his hallucinations last chapter *blush***

**-S.O.D.**

**2 headed dragonlover:**

**I'll post that right before I start on plot-chapters. Calm down, man.**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**HOORAY FOR SWEETNESS**

**And "Anatinus" is his LAST name.. his first name really is Perry :) Phineas has been going to him and spilling his guts since he was six, and so he calls him by his first name. Plus, they're kinda-sorta cousins. NOOO NO MORE SPOILERS.**

**-S.O.D.**

**Emperor Doof:**

**Boy howdy do I know that :P As was mentioned before, my mom and stepdad are both doctors.**

**Yeah, I think it's the protective instinct, again. I dunno. I always had to take care of my brothers and it made me a lot better for it. (YES they count as pets.)**

**:DDDDD I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW**

**SOMEONE ELSE READS THAT BOOK! I'VE LOVED THAT BOOK SINCE THE FOURTH GRADE!**

**My actual thought process when coming up with that was "hey, I should give him semi-psychic powers like Fiver!" AHHHH I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I LOVE YOUR TASTE IN BOOKS EMPEROR DOOF. YOU = WIN.**

**Phineas is total woobie material here. Gotta say. He needs SOME form of comfort.**

**Stacy totally has a thing for Candace. Just sayin'.**

**-S.O.D.**

**DarkChao1663:**

**Phineas is very interesting; physically, he's very small and skinny, so I figured in a big place with crappy medical care he'd get sick pretty easy, and I've always had a thing for having a very convenient Waif Prophet on hand :D**

**Yeah, I'll work Candace in there somehow. I just keep forgetting that they're siblings for whatever reason. XD**

**-S.O.D.**

**YAAAY. UPDATED FINALLY. I skipped a day, so I'll try to get one up tonight. If I don't, we lost one day. Oh well. Reviews, prompts, ConCrit. PLZ.**


	13. Leader

As much as he feels he doesn't deserve it, Jeremy is their leader. A ragtag bunch of misfits, locked in an asylum, and he's the one they look to. It's a pain sometimes. It gets in the way of his job. It is rather like being a parent to nine different children, and they all need his help at once.

But there are times he's grateful.

When Phineas will look up from his bed, at nine when the blonde is ready to escort him to Perry's office, the child will smile that unearthly smile of his, and he says, "I knew you were coming. There was a field on the wall. That means it's you." And even though Jeremy doesn't really _know_ what it means, it's like someone has peered into his heart and soul, and come out still thinking highly of him.

Or when Isabella, on the days Rosa is sick or gone, will talk freely anyways, saying, "It's okay to talk to you. Sabbie trusts you." He plays along, smiling at the doll in the orange dress, but he glances at the girl _holding_ the doll, and her blue eyes are clearer than he's ever seen them.

Ferb will look him straight in the eye when he's talking, and if their hands brush, he doesn't pull back like he's been burned. The green-haired boy will write him notes, delivered between them by Perry, whenever he needs help or information, and as a gesture of goodwill, he sends the reply the same way. Nurses inform him that the scraps of paper are being squirreled away in the windowsill, with a hundred other notes and scribbles that the young Brit finds precious.

Vanessa, even, comes to him for help, when she feels like she can't stay cooped up for ten minutes more without chewing her arm off. Or even just to talk, to discuss how much progress the others have made, because they all know Vanessa will probably be the first of their group to be discharged, and she refuses to let them rot in here without her for long. She can plan, he can analyze, and together they work out half-formed plans to escape the asylum, or take over the world, or defend from a zombie horde, until both are breathless from laughter.

Baljeet or Buford, sometimes even Irving, will trot up to his office with a pass clutched in their hands, nervously inquiring about someone or something. And he'll invite them in, glad for the company in the long, dim days. He'll get them to talk, and sort out the meaningless excuses from the real reason for the visit. And he gets things out of them that others never would, because he is their friend, a member of their family.

Stacy asks about Candace a lot, about her files, about her medication, a glare on her face the whole time. And he knows why, but he also knows when to stay quiet- because he's seen the way Candace looks at him, but it's also the same way Stacy glances at Candace, out of the corner of her eye. And he really doesn't know how to deal with either of their problems, because Stacy looks so hurt that he wants to somehow fix her and make her better, the same instinct that got him into this profession in the first place.

But when he looks at Candace, her bright blue eyes and long red hair, her crazy ideas and voice that gets too loud too fast, her faults disappear, and she sounds like any other girl up to the point where he thinks she should be let out. She's the kind of girl he'd see at a gas station and keep coming back there, day after day, with the nervous hope of starting a conversation, and she's the type of woman he would be proud to share his life with. He knows he's infatuated with his patient, and as much as he fights it, it's there. She brings in a picture, one day, of all nine inmates, taken with a disposable camera. And despite the harsh glare of fluorescent lighting, the fuzziness in the picture, he can see the exuberant expressions on all of them, every time he looks at it, sitting beside his computer.

These are nine teenagers. Defenseless, hopeless, tired and crazy, until he showed up and united them with a promise of _future _that, coming from him, they believed.

And they are his responsibility now.

* * *

**WOW this is long. Typed this last night, actually, but the Internets wuz dowwnnnnn. AGAIN. FFFUUUUU-**

**So, yeah. Jeremy is just generally a nice guy. I don't know- does the ending sound a little stilted and sudden? I feel like it does. I need to quit being obsessive about this.**

**Sooo, next up- Perry! And our first in-person meeting with Dr. Brandt, douchebag extraordinaire!**

**Mail time!**

**Spongey444:**

**Basically everyone has shades of woobie... ness. It is a pretty dark AU.**

**Pfft. Of course girl-on-girl is hot. (Ask my girlfriend :D) Especially if you like both girls!**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**She can be manipulative. Most girls have to learn it sometime- we aren't expected to brute-force our way through like men can.**

**Unfortunately, I have a *coughcough* DEADLY allergy to canon pairings. Deadly I tell you. I deal in crack. BUT I WILL TRY. FOR YOU, NOBLE REVIEWER. :3**

**-S.O.D.**

**EmperorDoof:**

**I know, right? Most kickass book nobody reads. That and Catch-22. Well, and Farenheight 451. And Ethan Frome. And... Okay, I need to stop, because listing off all of the books that get ruined by over-analytical English classes would take from now until the end of time.**

**SOOO many victims of incest have that issue. Unfortunately for In-Character Nazis, I've chosen to change the character to fit their experiences, instead of shape the trauma to match the character. Maybe it's the wrong way to go about it, but I'm having a blast writing it! Ophelia is just pretty much the most famous archtype of a crazy woman, so that was the word I used. She won't drown herself. I hope. *worries for fictional character's health***

**They can be a little callous. Of course, "they" refers to the Board of Directors, which is a problem because A: a committee is only a mob with no passion, and B: they don't have day-to-day contact with the kids like the doctors do, and as such are more concerned with organization than welfare of the patients.**

**I spent a good half of my childhood in a hospital (Mom's a doctor, I'm not sick), and the windows are all really screwed up, broken and dirty and warped glass. I always wondered why their only connection with nature wasn't being taken care of properly.**

**I WILL SEE YOU THEN. *waits*.**

**-S.O.D.**

**Dearest Milord:**

**Haha, badassness is a good thing to have when you're four-five and crazy. Gives you some sort of an edge. (is not speaking from experience what no of course not)**

**Your prompts are the best thing since sliced bread, had I not made that clear? *takes out megaphone* B'CUZ THEY ARE.**

**Nobody's gonna die, it's not THAT dark. Although her badassness may mellow a bit. (Sorry, it's in the name of character development!) I wiki walk until I have no tabs left, man. It's horrifying. I search, too, though. So yeah.**

**I'll rate it T. Once I get around to it. *shifty eyes***

**Pets do get in the way. ALL THE TIME. Roscoe, George, and Benedict (dog, cat, cat, in order) take great pleasure in knocking over my trash can and killing my stuffed animals. And I don't even have any evil schemes going on. (... At the moment.)**

***dances* I like writing epic characters. Isabella just observes a lot, sees how people react to things, and uses those reactions for a basis of how to make them act how she wants. (I do that, but not to this extent of course) And The Joker is my favourite comic book villian basically... ever. So. Yeahness.**

**I AWAIT YOUR RETURN AS WELL MILORD.**

**-S.O.D.**

**Kissy Fishy:**

**Yes. Yes he is. And he is awesome about it.**

**-S.O.D.**

**zack maniac:**

**THANK YOU! I don't pick favourites. It raises my blood pressure because it makes the other ones want to kill me. ^-^ Glad you like it!**

**-S.O.D.**


	14. Employee

Perry raised an eyebrow, resisting the temptation to lift his lip and growl like a dog. The heartless bastard wouldn't leave him alone...

Dr. Brandt pounded on the desk one more time, his favourite action. "Damnit, Perry, I want those kids on higher dosages. The city's going to wonder whether we're using our budget if we're not buying new medications. That Flynn child; I don't care if he's your cousin, I want him on fifty milligrams of Seroquel by tomorrow!"

Automatically, he regretted ever giving the man access to that information. It only gave the man more leverage, which was the exact opposite of what the younger doctor wanted.

Besides, when his semi-cousin Linda had visited his dorm room at the Carbondale campus ten years ago, explaining that she was pregnant again, going to give it to foster care because she already had a tough time with Candace, and to "Please keep watch over him or her", this had never, ever been what she meant.

Once more, he lifted his hands to sign, ready to be done with this, but willing to fight for his kids. "_I told you, Phineas doesn't respond well to medications. He copes well on a lower dosage, and if I have any luck I could even have him functional without pills at all. The least helpful thing we could do is up the dose, without it he could be discharged by fifteen_!"

"I don't want him discharged. The more patients we have, the more funding we get, don't you understand that? And it would be much more efficient to spend a few extra dollars on the Seroquel than to lose a few hundred from a discharge." He crossed his arms, basic body language that carried a clear message of _I'm-going-to-get-my-way-whether-you-like-it-or-not_. "Besides, isn't the _point _to make it worse? The crazier those brats look, the more pitiful they are. Translates into more money for us, especially if we can get pictures put on ads, maybe get some donations..." The supervising doctor rubbed his fingers together.

_The whole point of this hospital is to see these kids living their own lives, you evil, money-grubbing-_

Perry realized that he _was _growling, and crumpled up the note he was beginning to write. He could get fired for that. Instead, he nodded, not allowing the other man to see him shaking with rage. Brandt gave a smug grin, sauntering out of the room to tell the nurses about the increased dosage.

How he hated being just an employee.

* * *

**Poor Perry, hasn't been promoted yet. He does later, though. After Brandt gets sacked. (I love that term. F*** American slang, British is where it's AT.)**

**And yes, Phineas is Perry's cousin. And he and Candace are real siblings, they just don't know it. Linda gave Phineas up, because she had her hands full of a four-year-old with OCD and a recently-deceased husband. So she leaves him to the system, begging Perry- in college for child psychiatry and social work- to keep an eye on him. Then eventually, Phineas's foster parents, and Linda (with new husband Lawrence) both decide that their kids have a much higher chance of getting better if they go for in-patient therapy at the DMRC, where Perry then gets a job.**

**Explanations are good. Convenient coincidences are even better. XD**

**Okay, I have a list of plotlines I need to do. Let's see:**

**Starting at ch. 15, we're going to do the first plot, (SHHH. I WILL NOT GIVE THIS AWAY.) a****nd then I have one with all their parents visiting, ****shipping chapters (which will be marked), ****Brandt's rise and fall, ****and all their discharges, along with how they go into the world.**

**Opinions? :)**

**MAIL TIME!**

**Dearest Milord:**

**I KNOOWWW AND I'M SORRY. I LOOKED AT IT AFTER I HAD THE IDEA AND I THOUGHT, "You know, I bet he meant the NOUN, not the verb", BUT BY THEN THE BUNNIES HAD ALREADY TAKEN OVER. SAVE ME FROM THE BUNNIES. SAVE MEEEEEE... *drowns in bunnyfluff***

**Yuppers. I dunno what you said in that last paragraph there because I am so totally brain-dead right now, so I'm just gonna go ahead and smile and nod. *smiles and nods***

**MY PETS DETEST MY STUFFED ANIMALS. *cries***

**-S.O.D.**

**Fizzy Starburst:**

**I'm glad it seemed well-thought-out. I really didn't plan ahead with this one at all; just sorta... Wung it. So yeah.**

**I thought the relationships were a nice touch. And there's a reason Candace and Jeremy are canon. She needs someone to keep her stable; he needs somebody to spice it up a bit. It's cute. :) And I'm glad the absence of your pairing doesn't pull my story from the running. It makes me happy. ^.^**

**-S.O.D.**

**Spongey444:**

**Pfft. Why settle for only one, I say? Glad to have pleased you with my pairing choices. :)**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**That's everyone's favourite part... Maybe I should write canon more often. XD**

**-S.O.D.**

**2 headed dragonlover:**

**THANK YOU for confirming my suspicions/plans. I was hoping someone would ask for it. (Now I just have to write it!)**

**-S.O.D.**

**... Are they all done? Thank the Goddess I don't have to type any more. This may look typo-less to you all, but believe me, I nearly wore out my delete key, I was screwing up to bad. I either need more caffeine or more sleep. But I've been watching Doctor Who for the last couple days, and it's EFFING AMAZING. Like, you have NO IDEA. So, that's why this took so long- I was constantly browsing everything TVTropes had on Doctor Who. :P**

**See you next time. Prompt, criticise, review. Go.**


	15. Want

Nine-o-clock. Yet again. Every morning the same routine; Phineas at nine, Ferb at nine-thirty, Vanessa at ten. The schedule, of course, stays the same.

But what happens inside is always different.

Today was talking about Phineas's hallucinations- not an uncommon topic, but a little different today than the other times. This was their first serious discussion since the boy had claimed to "see" people's actions and thoughts in his visions- and also had spoken about a recurring dream. In it, he was normal, living with Candace and Ferb, and "making giant summer... thinghies- I don't really pay attention to the inventions, 'cuz I wanna look at the sky." And if that wasn't Phineas in a nutshell the doctor wouldn't know how else to describe him.

Perry signs to his charge, towards the end of their session, _"So, what do you want for your birthday?"_

He gets a blank stare in response. "My birthday was two months ago. April sixteenth, remember?" The child says it like he's not sure who he's speaking to anymore; he's been here so long that he knows Perry wouldn't make a mistake like that. But the doctor smiles.

_"Your adopted parents, Kathy and Gerald, gave you the day you were adopted as your birthday. You were actually born on July twelfth."_

And, thank whoever's listening, Phineas doesn't question how he knows.

"Oh, really? That's pretty cool." Perry lets himself relax, a little. That's part of why he likes the kid so much. He's very laid-back, going with the flow. Almost reminds the blue-haired man of himself, when he was ten. Well, minus the visual (occasionally auditory) hallucinations. And plus the ability to speak.

_"If you could do anything for your birthday, what would it be?" _Perry asks. His signing is more sloppy than he generally does it, because the rest of his brain is lost, remembering Phineas's previous birthdays. When he was seven, he had seen the tiny flame on the candle on his tiny cupcake, burnt himself, and had an episode. Brandt was called in, and the boy was forcibly sedated (more forcefully than was needed, really. That maniac just loved seeing the child shy away from the needles he was so desperately afraid of). Stories differ, from year to year, but really, he hasn't had a good birthday in a long while, and Perry is very determined to fix that in any way he can.

Phineas appears lost in thought, gazing out the window behind his doctor's head, with an expression of intense longing on his face.

And suddenly, Perry doesn't need to be told at all.

"All I want is to spend a day outside." His chin sinking down to his chest, he stares at his feet for a moment, until his head pops up, a slightly manic air now, desperation coloring with panic and depression and pain. "Just _one day_, Perry! That's all I want! How could I ever want anything more than that?"

And the doctor has no answer.

But he might just have a solution.

* * *

**BUM BUM BUMMMM! Man, plot chapters are harder than I thought. Wow. This is gonna be quite the ride, folks. I do believe it may take a while. Then we'll go back on into drabbles for a while, and then start on another plotline. Or somewhere along the line I'll get bored and just not write it anymore. That's what usually happens. *facepalm***

**I'm too tired to be doing this right now. **

**Typing in the middle of the night, internet's down, will likely post at 6AM. (Or my computer could be evil and decide NOT to get internet this morning. I'll upload whenever it comes back on. We're having problems with the wiring, and they're sending a technician out soon. Apparrently the problem is the quite-common "squirrel chew". Who knew? Updates might be tetchy for a little while until we get wire-surgery, though.)**

**Ooooh, girl! You got She-Mail! (Been watching RuPaul's Drag Race far too much for my own good.)**

**Emperor Doof:**

**I'm glad to have supplied you with chapter-fix. :) STORY ARC AHOY!**

**There probably will be problems eventually, but there's no rule saying the ten can't be extremely close even after they're out. They're like a support group, but portable. XD**

**Gotta say. That paragraph made me laugh. In the middle of the kitchen, at dinnertime, around my entire family as I was happydancing from review-induced euphoria. He is very much a callous bastard. I was going to add something here about my in-depth psychological analysis of his character, deep-seated distrust of others, familial issues and inability to see "defectives" as human. And then I bored myself, and I figured if the author got bored, it probably wasn't something that would interest others.**

**Poor Stacy. Always seems to get the short end of the stick. I don't even know how I'm going to work in a happy ending for her. I'll do it. I just don't know how. Yet.**

***dances* I know. I've actually started to give my friends deadlines- "I need to be home at four, I have a lot of things to catch up on." Like Dr. Who episodes on BBC America. :D I don't really trust Eleven quite yet... He looks like Benedict Cumberbatch, and whenever he comes onscreen my immediate reaction is "OMGSHERLOCK!". So, yeah. Not to mention the size of the shoes he had to fill, 'cause Ten was FANTASTIC, and I loved him to DEATH. David Tennant FTW.**

**"Over here"? Hmmmmmm? *creeper eyes***

**Neil Gaiman. YUS. (Good Omens and Coraline! YAAAAY! *joins in rejoicing*)**

**-S.O.D.**

**Spongey444:**

**Brandt is totally an asshole.**

**And I'm glad that you're glad that I'm glad that you're pleased with my pairing choices. (Someone please hit me with something before this starts a cycle...)**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**Never expected what? Quoi? I'm confused. Of course, I'm easily confused. But still.**

**He stands up for everyone. I swear that man has a hero complex.:)**

**-S.O.D.**

**Dearest Milord:**

**Well, he's around Perry here- who he views as, if not an equal, at least a fellow human being. He has problems identifying the patients as even that, which is why he's a monster around them. Plus, dare I mention, I swear he's a little frightened of our dear Dr. Anatinus. :D**

**I know the feeling. Every time I sit down to a blank word document, I think, "I used to have words in my head and now they've fled like my brothers at the call of "Dishes!""**

**There are going to be so many story arcs that they'll be coming out your ears, man. Bursting through the boarded-up windows and flooding down the chimney. (Harry Potter reference. Whut nao.)**

**Yeah, I think that's when they start. To be honest, the newest Doctor is a little off-putting to me, for reasons mentioned to Emperor Doof above. But I still want to see it CUZ I NEED MY FRICKIN' WHO FIX.**

**-S.O.D.**

**MirrorMirrorMelody:**

**I'm very glad you like it! :)**

**I'm going to find that bit very, very carthatic to write, trust me. He will get what's coming to him. *evil grin***

**-S.O.D.**

**2 headed dragonlover:**

**Uhmmm. I'm glad you like it. But I legit have no idea what you just said, man. NO IDEA. Am I brain-dead? Possibly. But that made no sense to me.**

**EXPLANATIONS PLZ. WHAT ARE THESE SHENANIGANS.**

**-S.O.D.**

**Jollyme:**

**I usually don't reply to reviews of previous chapters, but you seemed really confused. XD Yes, it's an Alternate Universe- that's what AU stands for.**

**-S.O.D.**

**DarkChao:**

**Yeahhh, doctors. Ugh. I'm sick of doctors and hospitals and medicine. Probably why I wrote this. XD**

**I guess he is kinda-sorta related, but I think that I'm gonna go with "One-Night Stand" theory, that Ferb's mother and father never saw each other again after his conception. So, yeah, biologically. But I don't think they'd ever know.**

**I've been working on that, but I'm still getting the hang of it. Keep reminding me until I've got it, mmkay? :3**

**Thanks for the review, and the advice!**

**-S.O.D.**

**Letters done. Reviews PLZ. I wouldn't mind if you gave me some extra prompts, too. Tell your friends! :)**


	16. Planning

Perry is mute, not deaf. In fact, despite being unable to speak, he has exceptional hearing.

The sound of his office door latch will never, ever escape his attention, and he'll have to remind Dr. Johnson about that one of these days. But one glance at the nervous blonde, and he knows that it will not be today. Jeremy looks very stressed and jumpy, and he's eyeing the file cabinets; something to do with the patients, then. He decides to make things a little less formal, if only to stop with the twitching, and leans back in the chair with hands behind his head.

(For the record, that idiot professor on the Board can go screw himself. Perry flat-out refuses to wear a lab coat from the moment he steps into the hospital until the moment he steps out. That is simply unreasonable. Thus, in protest, he wears no lab coat at all, and gives the lab-coated Doctor a cheery wave, with a 'Fuck You' hidden somewhere beneath, ever time he walks past.)

Jeremy seems to relax with the other doctor's change in position, which makes him smile- as educated as they may be, they are all human, and will forever respond to the same societal cues. Maybe Perry could do a study on that, on whether psychologists recognize half of their techniques in practice or not. If it got published, he could get some extra cash for the run-down old asylum. Goodness knows the place needed it. But the teenager (practically, he's in his early twenties and too close to adolescence for the blue-haired man to see him as anything but) is building up courage to speak, so Perry quiets his racing thoughts. As young as he may be, the blonde has good ideas.

The younger man palms the back of his neck before he speaks, a nervous habit if Perry's ever seen one. "Um... You know, Doctor, it's almost Phineas's birthday." It's a fact, not a question. Perry smiles.

_"I know. Did you have something in mind?"_ Perry cannot keep the grin off his face, and Jeremy picks up on it; he knows they have the same idea.

"Yeah. How long can you delay reports of nine missing inmates?"

He contemplates. Tomorrow he has to configure the nurse's schedule for the next two weeks, and so he needs to figure out which of them would let this "field trip" slide, and which would not. Nurses Brown, Kirkwood, and Sheridan would definitely permit it, if he spoke to them; Glawe and Henry would probably be convinced, although there would have to be careful manuevering involved. Danner, Anderson and Pohl would report him, without a doubt. Not that he could blame them for doing their jobs, but people who got into this business, who would willingly work at a mental hospital, can generally be categorized into two harsh groups; Bleeding Hearts and Megalomaniacs. You're either in it to coddle, or to control. Neither is explicitly good or bad, but they have significantly different styles.

Perry is a Bleeding Heart. Hell, he can't _not_ be, with the memory of Phineas's big blue eyes practically molded into his brain. Jeremy is, too, going by the bonds he's forming with these kids, the lengths he's willing to go to for the tiniest of smiles.

_"I can get you from midnight until six PM. Use it wisely. Any longer than that and I can't help you."_

If seeing one young man, a fellow doctor even, brighten like this just at the opportunity to go, fills him with this much joy and pride, seeing Phineas's face after he returns might just spike his blood sugar from sheer good feeling.

* * *

**Sorry, guys. I think I'm gonna go ahead and not do this on weekends; that can be my break time. (Had nothing to do with my lack of consistent internet access and abundance of new plot bunnies. None whatsoever.) And I'm starting to lose inspiration to boot. See, I told you it'd happen.**

**I really don't have anything to say. So yeah. Mail time.**

**Spongey444:**

**I WILL I SWEAR PUT THE GUN DOWN. XD I will, I promise.**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**I'm going to try to do a segment with each of them in therapy, as they slowly start to get better :3 So we'll be seeing a lot more of their sessions, eventually. :P**

**Thanks!**

**-S.O.D.**

**Dearest Milord:**

**I cannot make the chapters longer. Or at least, not yet. I'm trying. But it's not really working. So yeah.**

**You gave me great ideas there, man. You're the best. :3**

**NOOOOOO NOT THE MEME.**

**I watched a bit of 11 today. I thought it was actually pretty good. Nothing compared to Tennant. But good. :) He had me at "Fish custard" XD Doctor Who is just naturally epic. It'd take a lot to fuck it up now.**

**Repairman is a-coming, dude. :D *happydances***

**-S.O.D.**

**MirrorMirrorMelody:**

**Hahaha. I guess I still need to make things clearer. :P He writes stuff down, and they don't have to learn it to speak to him, he can hear. They just have to be able to read it. Generally what he does is teach them the alphabet, then just spell things out, instead of using more complex signs. **

**I am trying to stay true to the character. He's just a kid who likes to play outside and make the most of it, really.**

**I am glad you wait for my fic! I await your reviews, madame!**

**-S.O.D.**

**KissyFishy:**

**YAAAY. Another Wholigan. :) I love than name.**

**I heard the reason Tennant left was that he was getting too attatched to the role; I don't know if this is correct or not. Do you? *needs to know* I wouldn't be able to tell who's more attractive, really; men aren't my thing. But Matt does look a lot younger than David, it's true.**

**APRIL 23! YESSSS! :D Haha, my "crossover" is a fic called "Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object", about how Phineas and Ferb start arguing a lot during puberty, because Ferb gets stubborn and Phineas gets argumentative. Not serious arguments, but stupid things like whether Spiderman could beat Batman or whether cheese tastes blue or green... Or which country's science fiction epic is better, Doctor Who or Star Trek. XD**

**JOIN US. JOIIINNN USSSS.**

**-S.O.D.**

**Emperor Doof:**

**I can't believe someone caught that! I was going to add something in about how she would always call him "pinky" but I decided to leave it for later. AHHH YOU'RE AWESOME.**

**I will enjoy writing him. Very, very much. *evil cackle***

**Things may go wrong. Things may not. It really depends on your point of view. :) HAHA. Scottish. There we go, I was trying to figure out where in the world (is carmen sandiego) you were. *is a creeper***

**Bow ties are very cool. And yes, John Simm was the SHIT as the Master. "Are you asking me out on a date?"**

**-S.O.D.**

**2 headed dragonlover:**

**I might try to work around it, but I try to limit my straightjacket-wearing kids to one a story. (XD)**

**... Oh, crap, you gave me plot bunnies. You evil bastard. *runs off to type extra drabbles***

**-S.O.D.**

**pomdwt:**

**Haha. Twelve is good. Twelve was, in fact, the year I found Fandom. HOORAY FOR YOUSE.**

**I like acronyms. Acronyms are cool.**

**Perry is badass, though. He can handle it! :D**

**-S.O.D.**

**... SO TIRED...**


	17. News

The young doctor entered the Rec room, the center of all the activity of the East Wing of the DMRC. It usually wasn't loud, because, obviously, this was a mental hospital- too much noise and _someone_ would have a breakdown. Which was never fun, as it generally scared the other kids enough to start a chain reaction. He'd only dealt with that situation once before, and it involved much crying, screaming, and cursing. It had not been the best experience for him, and he'd thought about quitting after that- just seeing that boy's face, wet with tears and his eyes wide open but _empty_...

Today, the noise level had risen, but not with anything ominous in the air. This was happy noise, all chatter and laughter and singing. Vanessa was sitting in the middle of the room, sitting on a wooden chair that had seen better days within the last two centuries. Candace was crouched on the floor in front of her, glum from losing their struggle for the last seat left. Stacy sat next to the redhead, braiding her hair as they talked. Well, Stacy and Vanessa were talking. Candace was speaking in monosyllables, watching the three kids across the room play around, miming out some large structure or another. And as Phineas pointed and described things, Ferb moved about, almost as if he was fleshing out the contraption, giving it life and solidity. Isabella certainly seemed to believe it, standing on an extra chair and reaching up, trying to touch something that no one else could see. Jeremy almost wanted to go over and pull her off, before she fell, but she looked steady enough, and besides, they were having fun.

Alas, it had to end. Or as they would likely view it, the present activity needed to be put on hold for something much, _much_ better. He whistled, his fingers at his lips as his father had taught him, and as all activity stopped, every head in the room swung to him. He was still astounded by just how normal a lot of these kids looked; they didn't seem to be crazy at first glance. But he motioned for "his" nine- Vanessa, Candace, Stacy, Ferb, Isabella, Phineas, Irving, Buford, and Baljeet- to join him in the hallway, and as they followed, he scouted for a suitable location.

His office was too far away to be accessible. There was a group therapy room that probably would be empty, but it was also highly visible. There was a closet down the hall, too small to fit ten people. So whose room was closest? He steered the group, down hallways of blank white that had confused him half to Hell on his first week here; with absolutely everything the same stark white, it was difficult to see which way was up, let alone which hallway was which.

The decision was made; he pulled them all, in a discombobulated half-linear mass, into Vanessa's room, with windows that faced straight north and gouges on the walls from fingernails, from a woman fighting to be free. They were all gazing about in interest; no patients were allowed to visit other rooms, and this was the first time they had ever seen anyone's but their own.

Once more, Jeremy had to whistle for their attention. He sat on the bed, and they all rested cross-legged on the floor, like first graders waiting for a story. He prepared his story; he had to make sure it was all right, or he would likely be laughed out of the room. How sad, that children waiting for a spot of hope would dismiss their first chance as ludicrous. Blue eyes drifted over the crowd of semi-adolescents, eventually meeting with another pair of blue irises; Phineas was staring straight at him, not sparing a thought for the window in case Jeremy had something important to say. His heart pained a little, and he resolved to get the child his day in the sunlight if it cost him his own life.

"Guys," he began, trying to be straightforward, "you all know that Phineas is about to have a birthday, next week."

A lot of nodding, very enthusiasting from some (Irving) and confused from others (Phineas and Vanessa, although hers held also a glint of understanding) as they waited for him to speak again.

"Well, we're going to give you the best birthday gift possible." Jeremy smiled, bright and wonderful, and Phineas mirrored the grin on his own face. "Kid, we're taking a trip. And you're going to spend your birthday at the park. _Outside_."

There was a moment of stunned silence, as everyone stared and gaped in shock and awe.

And then there was a chorus of joyful noise as they all began to cheer.

* * *

**YAAAY. You're all lucky you're getting this tonight; I was tempted to leave it till tomorrow. Okay, today. But NOOOOO, I GOTTA DO IT FOR MY AMAZING REVIEWERS. :D**

**Mail time!**

**Emperor Doof:**

**I should hope not. I need some time to sleep. :P**

**XD I seriously thought no one else would get that; once again, props.**

**WOAHSHIT. OH NOES. I SHALL HAVE TO BEGIN MY SEARCH ONCE MORE. *starts humming "Carmen Sandiego***

**I have yet to see/read that, unfortunately; my girlfriend keeps pressuring me to read it, but I have a to-do list a million miles long. Ugh. Very glad you like the phrase; I had quite the time coming up with it. XD Pfffttt. As if. He'll try, though. He'll try.**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**I hope you are, honey, I hope you are. *funkyeyebrows***

**-S.O.D.**

**Kissy Fishy:**

**How could you NOT get attatched to that role? Really. I mean, come ON. If the Doctor ever, say, screwed up a regeneration and became a girl... I would be on that shit like white on rice. Or brown on Spanish rice, take your pick.**

***headdesk* Shiittttt. Smith needs to be cool. I like the character. I do not want the actor to be a douche.**

**XDDD You keep going, girl. You keep going.**

**I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE WHAT COMES NEXT EITHER. *waits with popcorn***

**Oh, right. *runs to keyboard*.**

**-S.O.D.**

**2 headed dragonlover:**

**Pffft. Who cares about the ratings? If you're mature enough to handle it, you can. But of course, this is just a crazy teenager talking to you over the internet. So, you might want to ignore my advice. XD**

**WRITE ON, CHILD. WRITE ON. I EAGERLY AWAIT.**

**-S.O.D.**

**MirrorMirrorMelody:**

**Haha; I figured that since Doof was so big on lab coats, Perry would totally be all "You told me to wear a labcoat everywhere I go? Screw off! I'm ditching the one I have now!" So, yeah. And he reads people quite well, and then knows how to change the mood and create the reaction he wants. Awesome By Analysis much? :)**

**There's a lot of shades of gray; there are those in it for control, who do an amazing job of organizing everything even if they haven't much compassion; there are those who would put the temporary happiness of an inmate on higher priority than getting them healthy. All in all, people are people. There are good ones and bad ones in every group.**

**I WILL TRY NOT TO. I WOULD HATE TO BE ON THE RECIEVING END OF YOUR HOUNDS OF HECK. XD**

**-S.O.D.**

**Dearest Milord:**

**This is technically set after Brandt gets the sack... But he may make an appearance. *evilgrin* And Jeremy's gonna be on the side of good, don't be an asshole XP No Face-Heel-Turns here.**

**It would take quite a lot to screw with the 'Who. (heehee I rhymed) Unfortunately, plenty of fanfics like to go that extra mile. XD**

**WAIT- WHAT REFERENCE? WHAT? I'M CONFUUUUSEEEEDDDD!**

**-S.O.D.**


	18. Leave

Jeremy shows his access pass to the doorman, at eleven-o-clock in the evening when he finally leaves. He flashes the laminated plastic like it's a badge of great imortance, and the guy rolls his eyes as he returns to his patrol; when you're working with crazies all day, you must somehow develop a swelled ego.

Little does the guard know, the second he's out of sight range, nine inmates are sneaking out to a van parked in front. The tall brunette girl that has on numerous occasions snarled at that guard (he was being obnoxious, and she was trying to scare him) prompts the smallest among them through the lot, herding them into a circle in an attempt to keep them from marveling at fresh air and bright stars. It's not hard; most of them went to bed hours ago, and are still fuzzy from sleep to remember what had been scheduled for tonight. Out of blind obedience, born of being captive for so long, they shuffled along, and through the doors of the large van they go; Phineas goes nearer the front, now wide-awake and searching the windshield for some glimpse of the night sky, and Ferb and Isabella are next, Irving rushing forward to sit close to Phineas. Buford and Baljeet settle close to the doors, whispering in ragged voices. Candace claims shotgun, so Vanessa and Stacy are left standing, unsure of the arrangement.

Jeremy himself makes it halfway across the parking lot before worry prompts him to sprint for the van, precaution forgotten. He makes a corageous leap through the doors in back, bounding straight into the middle of an argument between the two dark-haired teenage girls, at each other's throats and reaching for a ring of keys between them.

"I get to drive!"

"No you don't!"

"Yes I do!"

Jeremy walks straight between them, snatching the keys with ease and vaulting over the two seats in front to land in the driver's place, starting the van in a continuation of his flow.

"I'm driving. Sit down and be quiet or you'll be heard."

He hears Vanessa begin to complain. "Why do _you_ get to drive?"

Jeremy turns around, an expression on his face that reeks of _are-you-serious-right-now_. "Because I'm the only one in this van who hasn't been committed. That's why."

Vanessa crosses her arms as she sinks to the floor, her legs folded, and grumbles to herself. "Keep holding it over our heads."

* * *

**XDDD Ohh, Vanessa. This will probably be up early tonight; YAY for drabbles I've already written! WOOHOO! Now all I have to do are wait for more reviews to come in to type up mail... :)**

**Spongey444:**

**Put the bat down- put! The bat! DOWN! (/lolgreasereference)**

***happydances* I'M SO GLAD PEOPLE THINK THIS IS GOOOD.**

**-S.O.D.**

**MirrorMirrorMelody:**

**:D I am a sucker for little kids. That's how I make most of my money, by babysitting. My friends keep messing with me and saying I'm just a five-year-old at heart, but they just don't know the pleasures of dancing around the football field barefoot and singing to dandelions :3**

**They would annoy her in a universe where they don't exist; that's half the point. :P They'd do it anywhere. Non-intentionally, but it would happen, because the universe hates her. XD**

**Only Perry. :D He's just awesome like that.**

**I may have to actually describe that phenomenon one of these days; I'll probably end up doing it one day when I'm a shitty, dramatic mood. :P**

**For nowwww... *sings Avenue Q* :)**

**-S.O.D.**

**Emperor Doof:**

**Yeah, I know; if I ever do an AU with them all being psychics (which could happen), he'd probably end up as an empath.**

**Everyone is going to have their own specific reactions, I think. It'll be a good time to bring out the Manic part of Manic-Depressive in Vanessa :D Not nessecarily encourage... But they won't stomp it out. And I'm decently sure half the nurses think it's adorable. :P**

**He was squeeing. When exactly is Irving NOT squeeing at Phineas? SRSLY.**

**w00t! Scotland! Like, Malcolm Tucker, who is friggin' badass. And my Environmental Science teacher, who is awesome. XD I don't know much about Scotland... Admittedly, most of my independent studies have been on England, because I plan on moving there someday. So, yeah. I don't really know what I'm rambling about, please stop me.**

**She is rather... Fascinating. ;)**

**-S.O.D.**

**digigirl02:**

**YAAAAAY :)**

**-S.O.D.**

**Kissy Fishy:**

**:D *dances* Hooray, I am now officially responsible for procrastination! WOOHOOO!**

**So would I; I feel like so would anyone. If it happens, say, twenty years from now, maybe we'll get her and another female companion; Hell, we already had Nine and Jack, who is such a whore it's not even funny (but I laugh anyways XD). LESBIAN POWER! *waves freakflag***

**-S.O.D.**

**Dearest Milord: I am very disappointed in you. :C You broke your streak! NOOO! -S.O.D.**


End file.
